Science vs. God
30th August 2010 by Phil Farthing
Stop making my head hurt!
At some stage when I was a teenager, being a Christian got a whole lot harder. For a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones was that I started to encounter a bunch of other worldviews that didn't fit with mine, and a bunch of answers to questions that weren't the same as the ones I had always assumed.
For instance, I believe that God made me and he made the universe. But then as a teenager, I started meeting other people who said this wasn't so and that there are scientific explanations for this. And it usually seemed their scientific explanations were right. I also know where babies come from, how DNA and genetics are passed on to a child, and how that plays a part in who they are. This seems different to the answer "God made me".
The Bible tells us that God made the rivers and the valleys and the mountains and the stars, but then I was told different explanations. Geological reasons for mountains and valleys: how earthquakes, molten lava, and all sorts of other things, erupted and cooled over millions of years to create these wonders.
What is true? Do these explanations take away the need for God? Or make the Bible wrong? That's what many people told me.
The "why" versus the "how"
Imagine a lovely landscape painting. Someone walks into the room where the painting is and asks "why is that field green"?
One person answers, "It is green because the paint used contains the primary colours blue and yellow mixed together, and then the light in this room shines on the canvas and some of the light's wavelengths are absorbed into the paint whereas the other wavelengths are reflected to our eyes which send a message to our brain which interprets it as green" (take a breath).
Now the second person answers and says: "No, the field is green because the Artist wanted it that way. He desired to have a green field, so he created one".
Both answers are very true and don't really contradict each other. But you'll notice the first person didn't really say "why" the field was green, they just described "how" it was green. The second person told us "why" it was green, and that is because that's how the Artist designed it.
So when science tells us why the sky is blue, it is really only telling us "how" it is blue. To find out "why" it is blue we would have to ask God.
Science is not the enemy
Science can tell us part of how we are but we need God to tell us why we are or who we are.
God gave our universe laws and scientific rules to operate within, and so a Christian should never be afraid of science. In fact, all of the early scientists were Christian, and many people have come to know God through the study of science.
God often works, creates and performs miracles through science, but he is also far above his own created rules and is able to work miracles independently of science.
By Philip Farthing
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Comments
Sweet thoughts Phil! Love your perspective on all this! Had a few 'Whoa, that's cool!' moments while reading!
Hey Phil,
Some awesome stuff. Something I have been strugling and working through this year. So good to hear an idea where it doesn't have to disprove one or the other.
Thanks for these thoughts. It is important to hold the two in tension isn't it :) The Case for Christ raises some very serious doubts over the 'science' of evolution and argues quite winsomely for I.D. It is sad that secularists can not realize that their own biased agenda is what is pushing evolution being taught throughout Australian HighSchools. This is rather then factual, evidential based debate. So much so that when the national School curriculum survey closed last month, they protested that Darwinism was going to be studied by History students under a section entitled "historical controversies". It seems that they think Darwin's theory is infallible!
The arguments for I.D. are many and convincing and it is important that young people are given all the facts; and are allowed to make an intelligent and informed decision for themselves. It is sad that this is not the case in what is supposedly a democratic society. Christian parents, and church leaders therefore have a responsibility to talk through this issue as people mature and form their own world view. This article contributes towards such. Thanks Phil.
Nice way to deal with what is sometimes a stumbling block to seekers wanting to find out about God. Observation tells us a lot about our universe.
The Bibles creation story provides reasons/meaning for our existence. It helps us use the observations of science in a meaningful context - not the sometimes detached, clinical feel of the laboratory of observation.
Without wanting to spark a Creation vs Evolution debate, God's intimate involvement is seen in how God made our world with order and a purpose and within a meaningful context (something believing evolutionists/creationists can agree upon).
Regardless of your take on evolution/creation and Genesis, God has been and continues to be intimately involved in his creation - creating beautiful master-pieces day in day out:)
Thanks Phil for your clear insights!!